To Build Me Up For Sin So Fit
by AceralRayneRaith
Summary: There's the crossing and this space and this breaking, and if you fall into the breaking, then your life is all darkness and you are like us.  We are the freaks of both yesteryear and tomorrow.  And they want us.
1. Prologue

One warning I will offer: This story will be in first-person because otherwise it loses so much goodness.

Mmkay… I'll make this note short, but the bottom one _will _be epically long. I'm struggling with giving this a rating-there will be serious mentions of sex, drugs, and alcohol, (and gore... and my potty mouth) but this won't have smut. I think I'm safe with the 'M' though, so yeah...

But it's got some crazy awesome information in it, so, if you want to, kinda, sorta, have an idea of what's going to go down, feel free to read it. If you're one of those people who likes to play it by ear, by all means, go ahead. But I won't answer any questions that you ask (like the question of "What the fuck is this?") that are answered below (like my example).

'Kay? Peachy.

* * *

_Prologue_

_O Who shall, from this Dungeon, raise A Soul inslav'd so many ways?  
_

For as long as my memory stretched there was always Sayomi, pulsating her mind against my own, our hearts and brains matched to such a rhythm that it became a never-ending battle to beat the other out.

Though she hadn't always been Sayomi—there had been a time when she was a nothing, a nameless entity that flailed desperately against me in her attempt to unleash herself.

She finally found a way out when I turned fourteen.

Fourteen had held all of the promise of a normal year as I had never (_ever_) experienced such. Oh, I had tried, wishing for it every birthday, praying every night (to every deity known to mankind) that the voice that whispered crude nothings in my ear would disappear. After a while I stopped with both: obviously God/gods didn't exist if he/they wouldn't answer my pleas, and birthday dinners were sad excuses for things that were only unnecessary and wasteful.

But fourteen I had faith it. Call it too many movies watched or too many stories told, I _believed_ in fourteen. That was the year where magic was supposed to go down.

Needless to say, I put my faith in the wrong thing, as I had for my entire existence.

The… thing in my head was unusually quiet all day, and I let my hopes get stupidly high.

I spent the day poring over a heavy tome of good literature and exulting in the new school I had successfully enrolled myself in—everything was normal and I felt giddy—this had to be what other fourteen-year old girls felt all the time.

I woke the next morning with a killer headache and a mysterious case of questionable substances.

So, after shutting myself in my room with an ice pack for my throbbing temples, I scanned my memories for something, _anything_ to define what had happened to me after the moon had risen and sleep had fallen.

The thing was back, lounging in a corner of my mind with such a tangible sense of pleasure that it was like a smirk.

I wanted to ask this thing what had happened, what enabled it to break free, but, though the thing was there and we could clearly sense each other, it was impossible for communication.

It was then that I caught sight of the camcorder sitting on my desk, no bigger than the size of my palm.

I lunged at it, set it up, and hit record without looking back.

And then I asked who was in my mind, what had happened, and why?

After I had fallen asleep, Sayomi came back with her answers.

* * *

Alright-y then. This is what I guess you could call a cross-over, but it really isn't, because, so far as my knowledge goes, to be a cross-over, the author must incorporate characters from the show/anime/book/whatever.

There will be no characters from any of the above. The idea does come from one of the aforementioned though.

First off, story time: My friend, Brendan, found an amazing, British TV show called Jekyll—a modern-day Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde story. It fucking blew my mind and is now, in my fantastic opinion, one of the best things I've ever seen. It's genius; go watch it. You may have to buy it, but it's just _that_ good.

Basically, for those of you who won't go buy it (though you flipping should), it deals with split personalities and Hyde-esque characters that are _the_ shit. Legit, they tend to enjoy sex, drugs, alcohol, partying, and fucking with humans. Basically, they're your Seven Deadly Sins epitomized in these people. Great, right?

Totes.

There will be… 3 characters that _I_ created… well, technically 11 new characters if we're counting Hydes separately (including the Host Club members).

There aren't 'relationships', as such, in this world. There will be one person who does not have any of these issues… that would be Brendan's personage/Hyde—he has some issues we're still working out ( XD ), which will be explained.

Now, in my story, I pick and choose certain traits that my Hydes like to pursue instead of just the whole shebang. So, for example, one Hyde, Serena, is hypersexual, but she isn't a big fan of most illegal substances. This was how I decided that Haruhi's Hyde, Sayomi, would be more into the booze and pills, as opposed to all sex, all the time.

Oh, and a tidbit for later! When people "change" into Hyde-form, small physical changes can occur, like their irises tend to change color, they can grow a larger chest, anything to make them "more appealing". And, the change is always accompanied by funky electrical currents, like light bulbs flickering and the like.

Plus, Hydes are very sensitive about wanting to be their own people, so they all have their own name, sometimes (as in a specific someone-who-shall-not-be-mentioned-at-this-moment) it is what they wish to embody, or it is their trying to express what they truly believe they are.

Just remember: names have meanings.

Another warning: Romances between Hydes will develop at a shockingly fast rate. It's just what they do. Relationships between regular people will develop at a shockingly slow rate because everybody's trying to convince themselves that it's all just lust.

Ana is Haruhi's cousin, but all shall be explained! –singsongs away-

Let me know what you think in reviews.


	2. Chapter 1

Welcome to the very first chapter of this story! Thanks for stopping in… why don't you read, enjoy, review…?

Oh, this will probably be the last "clean" chapter insofar as language—the rest of 'em all tend to like cursing… profusely.

I don't own this. But if I did, I'd be the happiest girl alive.

* * *

_Chapter One_

_With bolts of bones, that fettered stands In feet, and manacled in hands  
_

"Haruhi-chan… Haruhi…"

A voice swam through the dead unconsciousness I (and Sayomi) had fallen into. She had been up late partying, and my temples were throbbing with the steady, pounding truth of a good, solid hangover.

"Not right now, Dad," I snarled (as respectfully as I could), shoving my eyes into my pillow. My breath bounced back at me, liquor saturated and cherry sweet.

My father giggled at that, unfazed by my threats when he should have been quivering.

"It's the first day before your second year starts, and I won't let you wile away the sunshine in bed, daughter dear," he chimed sweetly, his sugary voice egging on the beat in my cranium.

"Not. Right. Now."

"You're not being very nice right now; you're bound to hurt Daddy's feelings when he only wants you to succeed," my father proceeded to be bemoan; Sayomi sent up a little whisper that he was advancing into my room, failing miserably in retreating.

Oh, yes, we had finally figured out how to break that wall and whisper messages to the other—ours was a relationship of uncertainty at all times. It was impossible to tell where we stood as trust was unattainable with a person who took over my body every night.

It was then that he decided to change tactics.

"Come on, Haruhi," he began in a smooth, delicate way of his, a special tone that he kept on reserve for the mornings after Sayomi had gone absolutely crazy in the wee hours before.

I groaned and rolled to shoot so heavy a glare that even I felt mildly frightened.

"I was up until three, Dad," I hissed, and the man (clothed in his womanly garb) shot me a sympathetic look and extended a glass and two white pills, that he'd been hiding, in my direction.

"_You_ were?" the man muttered speculatively, disbelief sewing itself so thickly through the question that I knew there was no point in lying.

Strangely enough, my father had been the one to jog all of my memories on what was going on—he'd sauntered into my room in the midst of my one-sided video conversation, taken one look at my dark, purple circles and sunken eyes, and exploded into tears with pitiful mewls of: "My precious daughter is no longer a girl! She has been exposed to the world of the vile!"

Yeah, after hearing that, all memories of my early life had come rushing back.

My mother hadn't died at the hands of an illness—in our family, it could never be that simple—like everybody who I had ever met had been led to believe. Her… "other half" had done it, getting smashed to the point where oblivion was a coma away and deciding to try her luck out.

Nobody got to her in time, and she just drifted away. It was then that I placed the lock upon the accounts, pressing them away, living with the feel, wanting to forget that I, too, possessed this… malignant nature in my soul.

Before, she had told me stories, fantastical tales of an ancient family legacy, stretching back for more than one hundred years, of people with spectacular strength and speed and beauty, of the hunters who mercilessly pursued them.

The sagas were not happy, nor were they filled with princesses in towers; they were malicious and dark, twisted and evil, yet they held a certain appeal for me.

My mother then went on to explain that we were of this family, special descendents of a man known to be both wicked and good.

The duality of his nature was something that he passed on to his children, who then carried out the traits, spreading and whoring the condition around until it became a secret that not even whispers dared to carry.

And, so it was: the feel of another person in my head, it was my other half, the split to my personality, the yin to my yang, the demon to my angel.

Of course, she kept it essentially PG, but, once the… being had broken, my father didn't skimp on the details he flourished the tale with. I knew exactly what the… thing was after following that conversation…

A mixer of sex, drugs, and alcohol, with a splash of partying to give the mixture some tang.

Sayomi (as she later dubbed herself) had tittered out her response of needing that fun to be able to tap into that strength and speed—she declared herself a 'me without hang-ups', a creature lacking of such a moral sense and bestowed with such gifts that she should have been an impossibility. Sayomi, as I later came to understand, was fallacy and hedonism in its purest form.

"You know how she is," I murmured darkly, throwing back the drink and pills with an expert finesse that _still_ messed with my mind.

"That I do," Father assured, a flicker of seriousness flicking dully to life, before he blinked and came back all smiles, giggles, and flowers. "I have fabulous news I wanted to tell you!"

I quirked an eyebrow in response, rising from my bed to stretch in a deep swoon.

"Your cousin is coming into town!"

I froze, mid-extension, blinking owlishly up at my father as two very different reactions decided to go to war on my insides (not including the pleased little jump Sayomi gave in my head at the mention).

"Ana is coming here?" I questioned, and Dad sent up a nod as affirmative.

Ana, daughter of my mother's brother, was the only cousin I had (that I knew about). American-born, beautiful, and flighty, Ana didn't blend in so well, attracting fans, breaking hearts, and gathering attention with one _look_.

It also so happened that Ana was just as… afflicted as her father, my mother, and myself, but it was an opposite end of the spectrum thing that she worked.

I loved my cousin, yes, probably as much as my own father for she was my kindred spirit in a way that he could never be.

But there were some serious issues with Ana… coming here… with my friends… who were all boys… when she knew all my secrets… and would bed them all (most likely, if Serena had her way).

"She'll ruin everything," I gaped, and my father flushed guiltily, rocking from side-to-side in a little waltz step of indecision and shame.

I had to give him his due—he just missed the girl, and my father wasn't known for acting after careful consideration.

The last time Ana had popped into our lives had been when I was twelve; thirteen then, she looked from me to my father with a knowing stare and pressed a note into his palm. We had spent the afternoon at a little park down the road, sharing laughs, trading stories, and breathing affection—I had just assumed she would be staying, but when the sun had spread its fingers to hoist its gaseous weight into the sky, my cousin was gone.

At the time, I hadn't understood; I hadn't been aware of why she kept running, but now I knew.

Our split personalities made us wanted by governments worldwide, the swiftness and fortitude so precious (so that they could twist it into a weapon of mass destruction and wreak havoc on enemies, decimating and destroying everything for we had no… moral system in our other forms.

There was an organization, unnamed and powerfully armed, that served as bounty-hunters, securing our location and honing in, and, to the highest bidder, went the spoils of a good "Hyde".

Oh, yes, the nature of my kind was rooted in the tale of Jekyll and Hyde.

Ana, flamboyant as she was, had been running since her… other had come into play at the age of thirteen; I later found out that the paper she had given to my father had mentioned her daring adventure into the headquarters (by sleeping her way through the guards—not like I was going to judge) and erasing my file.

I was unknown, and thus, safe.

And for that I could never repay her.

"We'll ask her to not tell them?" my father offered, but it sounded half-hearted at best for we both knew it wouldn't be her who would spill the beans.

Serena had a loud-mouth… and loose legs.

I scowled, a conga line joining the drumbeat in my head, and pushed past my father to take my shower and get ready for a shopping trip to the supermarket (as the pain meds my father had slipped me earlier were doing nothing to relieve my head).

No sooner had a taken two steps in the direction of the bathroom, a series of intense raps went up from the door.

I exhaled quickly, prepped my body for the assault it was sure to undergo, and went to play the 'good hostess' role.

And there she was.

Lustrous, golden hair waving and crashing to her thin waist, turbulent blue, blue eyes, skin so purely white that snow looked sallow in comparison… yep, all my cousin.

Her full lips fell apart as a laugh spun into the air between us, a ringing chime soaring from her throat as one of her eyes, lined with full, dusky, long eyelashes, closed in a wink.

"Miss me, Haruhi dear?"

* * *

You don't understand how awesome I think Ana/Serena is/are. They're just a ball of fun and innuendos, so prepare for some serious potty-mouthing. Oh! And, as this is a Japanese anime/manga series, that takes place _in_ Japan, I think it's pretty obvious to say that everybody speaks in Japanese (I know… huge shocker there). Thus, Ana is fluent in it—actually, Ana has a bunch of skills that shall be revealed, but all in good time. For all you guys need to know right now, she is completely fluent in Japanese and English.

So, how was that? Didn't make any eyes bleed I hope, cause that would suck, and I'm not gonna pay your medical bills.

Don't get too comfortable with my updating regularly—band season is starting up, and thus, my free time ends.

So, you've met my first OC—next chapter, everybody else shall be introduced and the glories of Sayomi shall be expounded (by none other than Serena)—I, personally, can't wait for that rant.

Host Club won't be seen (and thus won't meet Ana and friends) until Chapter 3, I think.

Mmkay… time for me to head out.


	3. Chapter 2

Noms… so we have here a revised chapter of TBMUFSSF (…wow that was a _mouthful_). There are now only three new characters! Yay! And they're the fun ones! This is, ultimately, the same chapter it once was, so yeah…

Anyway, today we explore some Hydes, meet Serena (and the other two _briefly_), and don't really do anything all that much. Next chapter should be more epic.

So, instead of the prompts that I usually give in my stories, I'm going to put down funny conversations/text messages. Make of them what you will; some of them are inappropriately funny.

_From Halloween weekend (the morning after—a conversation between myself and my best buddy Bren):_

Me: Why am I covered in glitter?

Bren: Well, I knew you wouldn't do it sober, so I got you completely smashed and took you to the costume party. You went as a Cullen. And your sparkly, white ass won it for us!

I have no excuses. It's just probably best if you read on.

* * *

_Chapter Two_

_Here blinded with an Eye; and there Deaf with the drumming of an Ear.  
_

Ana had been glomped no fewer than five times since she had walked through our door (by my father, not me).

She handled it all with an indulgent smirk on her pretty mouth and shot me the open invitation to touch her as well, one that I was quick to shoot down—then again, I wasn't so… touchy as others would have liked.

Now, settled on the futon in our living room, a cup of tea steaming away in her hands, I allowed myself to properly look over her.

Beautiful didn't even come close to adequately describing my cousin, and I knew very well the reason behind all that. However, things had changed since I had last seen my elder, and I quickly went about cataloguing them.

She had a daring row of earrings that traipsed up both ears, hugging the shells of flesh, and there were two small scars—one on the left side of her upper lip and a pinkish mark on her right nostril—of previous piercings. Dark hollows lined the undersides of her pretty eyes, and the tight expression around the orbs never seemed to ease; occasionally, her irises would wander about in a quick scan, and her entire form was held on the edge of the cushion, body huddled around the china, fingertips a ghastly white in tension.

Ana looked like a warrior, ready to dive into battle, ready to kill for self-preservation, and I nearly wept for the normal life we could never possess.

"How have you been, Ana?"

She opened up her mouth to answer, and I cued Sayomi to be ready with the real meaning behind her words.

"Oh, I'm just visiting" became, **"I'm really running away."**

"Life got really busy, and I needed the chance to just… relax" meant, **"They got **_**too**_** close for comfort, and I don't have anywhere else to go to get some sleep."**

"I'm sorry."

She shrugged off my apology and stretched out a hand (that I quickly grabbed) with an, "It's not your fault. Besides, I'm tired of talking about me… how are _you_ doing?"

"I could be better," I replied truthfully, still clutching at her hand; she tugged me gently towards her more, and I moved until we were knee to thigh, my body angled to her own.

Abruptly, her back arched, lurching off the couch at such a drastic angle that I just couldn't possibly be sure she didn't shatter her spine with it, and panic filled her eyes, as she flipped her wrist, adorned with a delicate watch, up to them.

"Shit!" she swore, and I reached behind me, flipping blindly at the light switch (until the bulbs flickered out), and directing a command of dismissal to my father (who complied, fleeing the apartment hastily, stage left).

"What the hell, Ana? Why does she want to come out now?" I nearly-screeched, struggling to maintain a steady volume in my voice.

"I couldn't let her out this entire trip… you _know_ how she is," she gasped, one hand flying to her throat, as she stared at me, another convulsion rocking her spinal cord. "Don't let her out of this place, no matter what else. I have handcuffs—"

And, just like that, Ana was gone, falling absolutely still, eyelids shutting, and I caught my breath.

I was a sensible girl, but I could barely deal with my own self, and two Hydes in a room were bound to set the other off.

Sunlight flickered through the windows, dappled gold shafting through the room in little drips of rays, and I counted my flying heartbeats to one hundred before movement stirred at my side.

The girl elongated delicately, her tongue curling from my mouth in a lovely little yawn, extending until she was sprawled across the futon in a pose that would have done the Venus of Urbino proud.

"Serena…?"

Violet-red orbs popped open to look at me before a look, which could only be described as utterly delicious and sexual, smacked across her lower face.

"Well, hell-ooooo, Haruhi," she echoed. "My goodness, you _are_ pretty… any chance of Sayomi coming out any time soon to play?"

"You know flattery doesn't work on me, Serena," I deadpanned, and the girl pouted, calling attention to the fuller curves that had popped up on her body and the flawlessly small waist.

My God… it was a "wonder" that Ana had problems with her; Serena was sex… personified.

"You're still no fucking fun," Serena whined, jutting her chin out impatiently. "I swear, I leave you alone in the hands of Sayomi, thinking she's capable, when, _obviously_, you've still got a still got a stick up your ass. I bet you're still virgin-tight too… have you _ever_ fucking indulged? You do realize we're made to do these things, right?"

"Serena, not all of us are interested in giving STDs to our hosts," countered I, severity slapped all over my stance.

"Touché, little girl, but you know I'm clean, as is Ana. I may be a "tenant", but I take my… occupation seriously. Never been pregnant either… though there were those scares," she allowed, tilting her head till her neck was offered to mine eye.

"See?"

"So… what say you and I head out? We can work on that cherry of yours, get it popped, get nice and messed up. It'll be great! Maybe little Sayomi can come join me…" she pressed eagerly.

For a moment, I considered it: Serena and Sayomi, bar-hopping, drinking themselves into stupors, like every night of my life, popping more pills than a pharm party, bedding more guys than necessary.

That was the scenario that met their needs, failing to take into account that trivial fact that they weren't alone in their stolen forms. But to the selfish creatures of our other halves, that tidbit _was_ infinitesimally tiny—it wasn't that they were… "bad" things/people (well, some were), they just… didn't understand a, "No." or a line. To them, the world was a playground, everyone and everything in it their toys, and the idea of rules, laws, and regulations outside of that realm.

"Serena, you're not getting out of this apartment, so just stop trying," I ground out through clenched dentition, and I grabbed a firm hold onto the wall that fenced off the two separate areas of my brain. For one split second in time, annoyance crossed the pretty, stolen face of my cousin, and ruby seemed to coalesce and coil tightly around her pupils, before she looked up at me with a smoldering suggestion and a maraschino smile.

"You and I both know, Haruhi, that you couldn't keep me here if I _really_ tried, don't we? Sayomi might have a fighting chance if you wanted to delve into that talent a bit, but you're still weak to her, and, Haruhi, my darling, you're very well-aware of the fact that Sayomi would be more than amiable to my proposal.

"See… you're the stick in the mud—you're fucking boring. At least Ana isn't so bad—Mommy isn't _totally_ innocent, obviously, but she'd tried stuff out even before I 'came along'. You try and control everything, but what you don't realize is that you really can't reign our kind in; we'll just eat you up in the process," the blonde chimed cheerfully, orbs glinting maliciously.

I rolled my eyes and prepped for the rant that was sure to waste me my afternoon.

I loved my cousin, but I had practically no patience for her worse half.

"Don't forget who saved you from my fate," she dropped casually after drawing her endless, toned legs up under her and pressing her arms back into a silent invitation to feast my eyes upon her faultless chest.

"Adrenaline junkie."

"No need to call names; I did it because I care for you, cousin!" Serena protested, fluttering her eyelashes and pushing herself until she was leaning towards me expectantly, immaculate face hovering an inch away.

"You did it because you're always looking for your next fix," I snapped back. "Ana might have had pure intentions, but don't try and appease me with the crap of you wanting to do it for the 'betterment of mankind' and all of those lies that you force-feed her."

"Well, you've just got me all figured out, don't cha, honey? But, no need to fret; I've taken the time to return the favor," the hypersexual Hyde promised, and I sighed at her attempt to bully—the only thing Serena was good for was a great roll and the infinite, unfilled promise of _more_, coercing others to the near-point of madness with the sweet hymns of true happiness all too ready to fall from her pretty lips through sex until the person was a half-alive shell of a human, fixated on attaining that… peace, screaming at walls, snapping at family, crying for fucks, stalking the girl, and stumbling over the cliff of sanity.

All of Serena's victims/partners had been institutionalized, a fact that Ana liked to skirt around, locking that away with the rest of her nightmare-inducing, awful past.

"Oh, really?"

"The way I hear it, you're all about the boozing, and not so into the smooching… which I think is really rather stupid of you," the girl giggled happily, clucking her tongue up impatiently into the roof of her mouth. "Best endorphins, or highs, come from the sexing."

She paused, seeing as she'd already attempted, albeit vaguely, this path with me, and had gotten relatively nowhere.

"Ya know, you _have_ to feel it, the need, the urge. We're fueled by desires, base human instincts to feed on the weak and fuck with the rest. You're a smart girl, so you've probably tried to figure us out—you probably understand that we have no moral compass. We're spinning aimlessly; there's no future for our kind as we live to be thirty, _if_ we're lucky. Our entire lives are based on spreading the genes, and to lock yourself away must go against everything that Sayomi wants you to do.

"Look at it this way, you've been given a gift, a hugely marvelous present sits at your feet. Our kind can do so much—it's why we're so wanted by everybody. You know what I did for Ana—she can speak six languages flawlessly, and can get by on four others; not to mention that she's an expert marksman and happens to have a fine knowledge of pressure points. And, that's because she's accepted me.

"Now, I know you and Sayomi talk up there," she gestured in the general direction of my cranium, but her eyes glinted with cheerful intent, glowing ruby red in the sun that sparkled throughout the room with childlike intensity and wonder. "So, obviously you aren't as closed off as you think you are—she knows it, and I know it. When was the last time you had a legitimate conversation?"

I shrugged—Sayomi whispered things, and I let her out at night; that was the extent of our bond. I wasn't about to let a Hyde run my life.

"Don't play dumb with me; it isn't an attractive shade on you. I'm also willing to bet that, whether or not you're aware of it, Sayomi has let you have a little bit of our fabulous memories too. Which means, girlie, you're in her fucking debt," she chattered gleefully; I studiously avoided her red gaze and groaned loudly.

"I don't need any more of that."

"What was that?" Serena gasped, wonder kicking into her voice once more. "You're in debt? You could always pay it off with your body."

That night. Beach. The offer… and here it was, presented again.

I blushed steadily.

"Oh my! What's this?... red cheeks and avoiding gazes… little Haruhi has a crush! Let Sayomi have her way with him, and then he'll be forever yours, little one."

I fixated a glare in her direction and tried to level a glare, failing when faced with that look of pure, unadulterated excitement swirling across her features.

"You _will_ leave my friends alone, do you understand?" I threatened weakly; I wasn't one made for confrontation.

"They're boys," she crowed excitedly, and then, like a hat drop, her irises darkened to match the black of her pupils and she let forth a terrifyingly, gut-wrenching scream of, "No, you fucking bitch!"

Serena shuddered once, twice, flopped dully and bonelessly against the futon, and emerged Ana once more.

"How was she?" was the very first question to spill from her lips through panted breaths and fluttering eyelids.

"Manageable. More than I thought she would be," I admitted lightly, and I watched a scowl twist the face of my ethereal relative.

"She was satisfied with what she was given before we left," Ana snarked disgustedly. "She's not so bad… unless she isn't given her time to roam; then, we have issues."

I tried to open my mouth, to comfort her, to offer a suggestion, but the only thing that I was rewarded with was a dry tongue and throat, but I struggled past that, knowing what I should do.

"Ana…"

"Don't say anything… please. You said you had friends—I'd like to meet them, Haruhi. Don't worry; she'll be satiated once more before we do, and I'll speak with her before. She'll be on her best behavior."

We both knew the promise to be (most likely) empty and untruthful; it still made us feel better to hear it.

"Tomorrow."

"I'd like that… thank you."

And we both recognized the gratitude to be for a multitude of things, and not just the opportunity of allowing Ana into the life that I had tried so hard to create (that she could ruin so easily).

"Anytime, cousin."

She smiled hazily and sadly, the twitch more of a grimace than a grin, and turned her head away, rising fluidly from the couch.

"I should start my trolling," she murmured, and I tried not to hear the anguish saturate her tone like I knew she wanted. "And I have to get back to the others."

I stilled and sent a loaded, questioning, slightly horrified look up at her.

"Others?"

"I meant to tell you: I have… friends…" she hedged, tilting her face towards the window until rays of sunlight caressed at her silken cheeks and full lips.

"How many?" I barely managed to gurgle, and her shoulders hunched.

"Three… including me," she confessed, and I let out a little stutter of shock. Sayomi let out a scream of indignation, and I jumped as I realized how silent she'd been for my entire interaction with Serena.

"Ana! Do you realize how… _obvious_ that is?" I spluttered harshly, wishing to rise and shake the girl's shoulders until sense returned, but I was glued to my seat, frozen in absolute terror and shock.

"I…"

The knock came next, chased by the cautious reappearance of my father around the door.

"Good to see _you_, Ana-chan," he greeted cautiously. "I found a couple who claimed to know you and just brought them on up; they seemed to be getting a little… antsy."

He led two individuals into our living room (that suddenly seemed too cramped for just the five people), both predictably pretty, and so different that it took my eyes a few seconds to adjust.

The boy stood at a good foot over his companion, but he still moved with fluid ease to Ana's side and collected her up in his arms. He snagged his arms around her waist comfortably, and I shot her a daring eyebrow—the gesture looked far too friendly, and I knew only the scantest details of Ana's dating history.

"I'm Brendan," he announced in a grumbling basso voice. "Or Gregoire, depending on the day, my mood, and your luck." The boy conjured an expression trapped between a sneer and a grimace that sent a shock of something down my spine.

Ana patted at the forearm resting across her abdomen and carefully began to remove her entwined limbs from his, giving the other girl an opportunity to step shyly forward and drop her gaze to the ground.

"My name is Ariana Clarke."

She blushed with the admittance, highlighting the fawn freckles sprinkled like constellations against her peachy skin. She blinked large, doe eyes up at me from behind a curtain of fat, brunette ringlets, and I nodded encouragingly. She was not as tall as I was (a feat to be sure), and her shoulders curled around her body protectively.

"It's very nice to meet you both," I murmured. In English—I had a feeling these two did not know any of my native tongue, probably brought on by the untraditional, English introductions.

Ariana turned a more furious shade of red but smiled, and Brendan just nodded until Ana swooped in.

"Well, we should be on our way."

Ana collected her crew up then and began to sweep their movements towards the door… before she turned one final gaze in my direction.

"You really are an idiot," I both reprimanded and bid farewell as the group moved back to my door.

"I'll see you tomorrow, my cousin. Wish me well."

My 'good luck' died on my lips as Ana nearly sprinted from the room.

"Well… that was nice," my father muttered, and I shot him a look before going about preparing myself for the week ahead.

I needed whatever self-help I could get to aid me in this.

* * *

Next chapter we explore all things Sayomi-ish, meet the Hosts, and get into more trouble.

Bonus points to whoever can tell me where the italicized bits/the title of this piece come from _without looking it up_.


	4. Chapter 3

I know that I've been AWOL when it comes to this story—I just had to re-evaluate and decide if I liked this or whatever. I'm going to try and finish this though. Thank you for your patience.

Time for the Hosts to meet the Hydes: buckle up, everybody.

Actually, that's really building to the ultimate let-down. I mean, all that's involved is Tamaki getting beaten down, Ana almost jumping Mori, Haruhi/Sayomi getting absolutely trashed, and some slight revelations about the Ana group and their Hydes.

And, for my Tamaki-loving readers, don't get me wrong. I love the blond Frenchman—he's just… not for Ana, and she really doesn't know how to mince words when she doesn't want to.

Your quote for today is from a close friend of mine (who also happens to be the girlfriend of one of my best friends); note: _this is the response for when I wake up blanketed by another (naked) person and ask what they're doing in the guest bedroom where I've crashed:_

Natalia: Well, the point is I'm not sure how I got over here and ended up naked. Last I knew, I was wearing your clothing, you were wearing his, and he was in a tube top and one of my sister's tutus. And I was in my bed _alone_. So, really, worrying about semantics is pointless. That was my fucking favorite tube top, and I don't know where it is now!

Good to know that you understand the true importance of the issue, Nat.

Read on.

* * *

_Chapter Three_

_A soul hung up, as 'twere, in chains Of nerves, and arteries, and veins._

* * *

_There are exactly three hundred and sixty-eight individuals who possess a split personality and a Hyde. Which, if you're taking respect into consideration, translates out to seven hundred and thirty-six people who are unnaturally pretty, fast, strong, gifted, and hunted._

_Sayomi knows this because Sayomi knows many things._

_Haruhi has not truly even scratched the surface on what true knowledge she could possess._

_Then again, Haruhi can be very stupid at times. She is oblivious and relatively apathetic and too innocent to be in this world of secrets, darkness, and lust. _

_Haruhi is the weak one here, and so Sayomi drinks harder, parties louder, pops better, and punishes her host as often as she can. Haruhi is too naïve to see what is really at stake, what is _really_ going on. _

_You see, Sayomi wants a body—she knows what needs to be done, and she needs to be an individual to do it. Sayomi needs for Haruhi to go away; she doesn't _like_ boozing and dosing and all of those things—it makes her weaker (when she really needs strength)—but it's how she'll win._

_Sayomi is confident that Haruhi will give in._

* * *

Sayomi didn't relent until the sun had already risen the next morning, slinging back shot after shot, popping pill after pill, drugging me into submission—even after the morning had dawned (and I had gained more power) and I caused our fingers to twitch, jerking the substances about until we were thoroughly coated in them, she kept at it. And I took the opportunity to realize what she was really trying to say:

She was furious, so pissed off that she kept hammering back drinks in punishment; she'd wanted to come out with Serena, looking to her like I looked to Ana for guidance, and she'd, essentially, been cut off, shut away from the only "family" she considered herself to have, and she was to make sure I never forgot it.

In her absolute furor, she'd forgotten that the effects of alcohol and drugs failed to stretch across the border between us, until just the hangovers seemed to grace me.

My father was the one who informed me of the absolute mess I/we looked when he came in to wake me: Sayomi sat in the middle of my bedroom floor, eyes furious and ruby, glaring wrathfully at a spot on the tatami mats, clothing drenched to her pretty body, two empty bottles before her and another on its way to her lips, full mouth pursed with homicidal intent spilling into a speech, and a bowl of uppers between her legs.

The distraction Dad provided was enough of a shocker for me to grapple control back into my corner, and then, I came to.

The first thing that struck me when back in power of my body was the sheer rank that slipped and slid across my skin, and, instantly, the smell burned my nostrils. My father tried to stay but quickly excused himself, one pretty, feminine hand clasped over his face—I couldn't blame him, as I sprinted for the shower, ignoring the pounding of my temples and the whirling of my stomach.

My father, once I had emerged, clean and fresh and _very_ hung over, pressed a piece of toast to my lips and green tea into my free hand, and then, I was off to school.

Ana met me outside, looking gorgeous and sleep-deprived and depressed—I noted the hickey on the side of her neck, smoothed over with concealer, and made no mention of it.

Her entire "crew" swarmed us as we made our way down the street, still very much like they had been yesterday, eyes haunted, though smiles stretched their faces into macabre imitations of happiness.

"Rough night?" The question was only slightly sarcastic and biting, but Ana tilted her pretty blue eyes up to the sky and pursed her lips in a little sob that never reached past her throat, dying there instead with a silent quail.

"It was okay."

It was always only 'okay' with her/us, so much so that the word stretched through definitions and could only be distinguished by tone.

And her voice wept with knowledge and too much experience.

I allowed her to hook her arm through my own and watched as the deadened gazes of her two companions fixated in my direction, curiosity burning like little pinpricks throughout their eyes.

"What were you thinking, Ana? Really, I want to know," I began, sighing heavily and bending my head towards the concrete that thumped beneath our feet.

"I couldn't leave them alone," she defended, and I tried not to meet the looks. "We've gotten better now—there aren't as many slip-ups: Ariana and Veronica have toned it down a bit, and Gregoire—Brendan—hasn't eaten anybody recently…"

I felt horror smack its way across my stunned features: she kept company with thieves and serial killers—just perfect!

"Just the occasional snap or two," the tall, ebony-haired boy remarked under his breath; an immeasurable misery swirled through his irises, one not hidden or regulated, the jaded thunder of true exposure unable to be swiped permanently.

This boy had seen more than anybody should ever be exposed to, had played God, deciding fate and life with one jerk of his hand and teeth.

"What will you do while I'm in class?"

I wanted to get this conversation as far away from Hyde-ville as possible.

"Oji-san said that Ouran has some impressive grounds; we shall explore those," the blonde goddess of my family proposed, flickering her icy gaze towards the cloud cover again. "When shall we meet you?"

"Three o'clock. The Third Music Room."

"So it shall be," Ana chuckled, though any charm that had ever been in her system had been drained away over the few years. She stopped abruptly, hold strong on my arm, and I glanced up to see the yawning gates of my school in all of their grandiose glory.

If the trio was impressed by the rich air that flowed from the Academy, they did not show it—they looked curious (perhaps if one were to squint _really_ hard and tilt one's head), but no other emotion tainted the expressions. Ana was the only one to look mildly horrified at the jaundice yellow dresses that adorned the rich girls who giggled and tittered their way into the school—our gathering had yet to be remarked upon, and I was intent on keeping it that way—before she chanced a glance down at the black corset she wore, lined with silver stays, and Converse before she nodded satisfactorily and fidgeted with her choker, turning her stare over me with critical intent.

"I agree when I say that the boys got the better deal. We will be waiting."

And, because I knew her so well, I was well-aware of the fact that she wasn't referring to herself and the others.

I did the smart thing: I ran away.

I was collected by Hikaru and Kaoru in a matter of minutes, both swooping down with hawk-like intensity dancing in their amber irises and the identical title of, "Haruhi!" chorusing from their mouths.

"Ne, Haruhi, where were you this weekend? We called your cell phone with no response on your part," Hikaru complained lightly, knotting his hands around my shoulders and pressing our cheeks flush.

His twin contented himself with wrapping an arm around my waist and tacking on the ever-helpful, "Once… but it's the thought that counts—that's something you commoners say, right?"

"Seems like a poor excuse to me," Hikaru rebutted from my right side. "I mean, it's just a little phrase that you murmur when you've gotten someone an awful gift because you didn't have the monetary means to get something better. And people actually buy into that!"

I tried not to regret my decision of letting Ana come and meet my friends; the blonde was sure to have a field day with the boys and wind up spitting them back out, but, alas, my compunction was getting the better of me.

I ignored my friends and led us to our classroom, settling into the row of seats the twins had claimed in the beginning of the year and pulling the books from my bag. After carefully arranging my face into a blank mask, wiped clean of any and all emotion, I turned my chin in the general direction of where the teacher should be; Hikaru grumbled when he realized I wasn't in the mood to pay much attention and feed his appetite for tomfoolery, but his brother saved me from the worst of it by distracting (essentially) all of the estrogen in the room with the initiation of a new 'Brotherly Love' scene.

I tried to care, really _and_ truly; life was just interfering.

I had a massive headache, and my stomach was doing the cha cha, both symptoms caused by materials in which I had not wished to partake, my Hyde was giving me the silent treatment (and probably planning out more revenge to enjoy), the boys I chose to surround myself with thought of me as a Raggedy Ann who could be tossed and pinched when the need was felt… but, hey, at least I had a better life than my cousin.

Ana had never had a 'happy childhood'—her mother had openly despised her, her father had picked up and left when she was two, and she grew up in full knowledge of her shattered home that never had the hope of being fixed. My uncle's other half was the worst kind of example of what my cousin could be—flighty, irresponsible, and only ever looking for a good fuck (last I heard, he was living it up in Cancun with a girl on each arm and a different one in his bed every morning).

Ana was a 'whoops' baby, and her mother, though never physical, had beaten my cousin down verbally so many times that it was a wonder the pretty girl hadn't killed herself. When Serena showed up, Ana was kicked out, and thus began her trek across the world.

The languages were a gift that Serena decided to bestow upon my cousin, and the first time Ana ever held a gun, she knew where to hit with flawless accuracy, though she did prefer older weapons in the form of bows and rapiers—I could see the need to know how to wield one, for protection and all of that, but, as my life had never been spent in constant fear, I didn't ever feel the need to learn.

As far as I knew, Ana had never had the opportunity to finish high school, moving from cheap motels to high-class hotels to everywhere in-between; I knew she read and studied whatever textbooks she could pick up, but…

At least, that was the stuff Ana wrote home about. She'd kept in touch through the years, calling from untraceable cell phones and pay phones, writing more letters than I could keep track of, dropping in every-so-often.

I shook my head and focused once more on the lecture, not wishing to get caught up in the shady details I knew of my cousin's past, and noticed that Hikaru and Kaoru had lost (virtually) all interest when I hadn't responded to their prodding fingertips.

By two, my bottom lip was sore, swollen, and seeped blood every so often from where I'd been gnawing at it.

"Haruhi," Kaoru, the more observant of the twins, noted as we waited those last few minutes before the bell, and I glanced over at him hurriedly, trying to stifle my wince as best I could, "you seem a little nervous about something. Everything okay?"

_I wonder what tipped him off_, Sayomi spat angrily in my head, not exactly meaning the malice towards the redhead but at me instead; I still (almost) rejoiced for she was talking to me once more (for though I didn't want to admit it, there were times when I (dare I say it) felt something like amity between myself and Sayomi). _Perhaps it was how subtle you were today, or maybe even the fact you've been working on those lips of yours for the past half hour. That's going to smart a bit when I'm drinking us into our nightly stupor tonight, isn't it?_

"Actually, my cousin came into town yesterday, and she's here to meet you all today," I admitted.

There. Fair warning—let Ana have them now.

_You could always let me have them first. _

"Tell me she has some sense of gender built into her… or do we need to make her over as well?" Hikaru lazily offered, and I bit back a chuckle at the thought of anyone trying to change Ana in her ways of fashion.

"She's a bit different… think Little Bo Peep going to a funeral."

"Supporter of Gothic Lolita!" the two exclaimed together; the revelation spurred an intense, whispered conversation between the pair, and I casually turned my head away as the words rushed me.

"That could be good," Kaoru offered.

"Or bad…" Hikaru amended, and his brother nodded sagely, turning now-serious amber eyes towards the ornate ceilings.

"It all depends… on her looks, though I bet she looks like Haruhi, all cute, brown hair, brown eyes, fairly androgynous, how she wears it, which means that this is shaping up to be more 'bad' than anything else. I smell a fashion makeover coming on."

I stifled a laugh and held my tongue—they could meet the blonde bombshell and _then_ form their opinions.

The bell clanging above did a fabulous job of reminding me to ground my excitement, and I was the first person to slip from the classroom, heading towards the Club Room—Ana wasn't a prompt person, but I had a feeling that this was a meeting she wouldn't miss.

I got to the door at the very instant that Mori-senpai and Hunny-senpai showed up—one ruffled my hair, the other launched himself into my arms with a happy exclamation—and once I was finally allowed in, Kyoya stood to greet me as well from his customary table while Tamaki wrapped long arms around my frame with a jubilant cry of, "Daughter!"

I shouldered out of grips, passed Hunny back to Mori, and turned to the Shadow King.

"I want to offer some forewarnin—"

"Haruhi-chan?"

I shut up and turned to the door, cut off by my own flesh; Ana stood in the shadow of the doorway, two pairs of eyes ringing the cornflower set in their middle, and I casually tilted my head to the side.

"That."

My single word seemed to spur confusion throughout the room, but Kaoru and Hikaru, who had managed to slip into the room without my notice, turned identical curious gazes upon me.

"That her?" the two asked in tandem—Tamaki managed to look grieved that he wasn't aware of what was going on while the others continued to look utterly bewildered.

I nodded in response to their question and locked my knees.

In an instant, the blonde was in my arms, wrapping her body possessively around my own, face buried into my neck until her mascara-blackened eyelashes both scraped and tickled the sensitive skin there, and her uneven, hot breath swirled across my collarbone.

"May I introduce my cousin Ana?" I laughed shakily, trying to push the pretty girl off of me.

Various reactions went through the group: Hikaru and Kaoru went into full-on appraisal before grinning near-cruelly; Tamaki gaped, open-mouthed, until all of his flawless dentition flashed white for everyone to see; Kyoya looked absolutely struck-dumb by this bit of information; Hunny-senpai bounced in his agitation of either wanting to see the girl full-on or welcome her with cakes, bunnies, and much glomping; Mori-senpai had passed a hand across his face, leaving behind slightly intrigued and interested orbs; Ana was trying to desperately control her breathing—I noticed the questionable flicker of a lightbulb overhead, and I felt oxygen a bit too hard to pull in; her crew still hugged the doorframe, afraid to move without their leader's approval.

"I wasn't aware that you had a cousin," came from Kyoya while the twins decided to bludgeon the girl with the accusation of, "You're not a natural blonde, are you?"

Ana went desperately still against my body, and I bit at my sore lips, rather curious as to how this would turn out—my cousin could be… vain at times and was so protective of her hair that one would think it to be her child.

"And if I am?" she murmured lightly, a threat running beneath her pretty voice like a glacial stream.

"But you aren't," Hikaru pressed, and the girl rounded on him, revealing her near-perfect face for the first time since, well… ever to the female-pleasing boys.

Gasps might have gone up, knees might have been weak, and stomachs might have fluttered; I was too busy watching my familial blood with wary irises.

Her shoulders and spine tightened minutely before her chest and hip popped out into a stilled body roll, offering her goodies up for all male eyes to feast upon.

Overhead, the light bulb winked.

Tamaki, for all the fact that he was a blond idiot, may not have known how to handle a lot of situations—he was overly-emotional, prone to dramatization, and apt to touch one-too-many body parts—but he knew women… or so he thought. And so, he decided to break the still and throw himself to my cousin's will.

"My Princess," he cooed, and the girl let her orbs slide across him, assessing, before she crooked one finger to the group in the shadowy recesses of a door. "It is a wondrous honor to see your sweet face grace the unworthy presence of us gentlemen. In your melodious tones, come sit with us, mayhaps indulge in a cup of tea, and favor us, your humble servants, with your tale whilst we feast upon your beauty."

"I'm not interested, slimeball," Ana deadpanned. "I don't take up with your kind, and I can fucking promise that I never will."

Another silence echoed throughout the cavernous space; her crew shuffled together in a little dance of unity. A twin coughed, but the other burst into cackles, which set just about everybody else off.

"I was completely wrong," Hikaru sobbed, tears of mirth pouring from his cat-like eyes. "She totally is like Haruhi!"

"Cutting, cutting," Kaoru moaned, clutching desperately at his sides. "Just right to the core, she strikes!"

Brendan, the dark one, snickered, and I shivered momentarily as the sound came out more… sinister than a harmless chuckle should, while the quiet Ariana buried her face in the Brendan's shoulder and laughed.

On the faces of my boys, absolute enjoyment seemed to reign over all—Mori-senpai's shoulders shook silently, Hunny babbled out a happy guffaw, Kyoya hid behind his notebook, but his gray eyes danced with delight, and Hikaru and Kaoru were in tears.

Only Tamaki seemed to have an issue with my cousin's rebuke, as he flailed his way over to Kyoya, hid behind him, and began the (rather) pitiful mewl of, "Ana-chan is so mean to the King!"

Ana allowed herself a momentary grin of triumph before she got back to matters on hand; she kept her hyacinth eyes fixed on the little duo of hers and periodically flashed them my way, and I knew that this was the only way that that stupid light bulb wouldn't sputter.

As she was enunciating the last syllable of Ariana's name, she took a half-step back, lowered her gaze, and intertwined our fingers, stepping partly behind my shoulder and touching her chin to the delicate junction between her collarbones.

Tamaki, slightly pale and trembling, recalling her earlier upbraiding (no doubt), stepped forward, until I offered my free hand up in a gesturing meaning to transfer the task.

"Kaoru and Hikaru are in my year and my classes," I began, pointing an index finger in their direction; the two had moved off to study the rest of Ana's small flock and attempt to coax the two into a conversation (with jokes fired and interjections inserted), but they weren't having much luck as the duo seemed more interested in sharing private jokes and amiable jibes with each other. The twins flicked their hands into the air as they were called respectively, just to be polite I was sure.

"I wouldn't call you Gothic Lolita," Hikaru tacked on as my statement came to a close, and my cousin jerked her chin up as she stared at him.

"What do you mean?" she bit out sharply, flinging a rather caustic glare in my direction.

"That's what Haruhi said you liked—you just like dark colors, though that really is an impeccable corset top you're sporting. It sets off your not-natural blonde hair."

Ana growled and touched at her hair protectively, mumbling under her breath, "It's the only thing I ever got from my mother, the she-devil."

I squeezed her palm in a valiant showing of my solidarity.

"What my brother means to say is, 'Hello and welcome. We hope you enjoy your visit to Japan.'" Kaoru carefully interjected, and I nearly got down on my knees to worship the tactful twin.

The two moved on to try and engage the jaded pair that Ana had collected, but Ariana merely stumbled over her own tongue, before slipping into silence, and Brendan seemed far more interested in appraising the group at large.

"Tamaki-senpai and Kyoya-senpai are the year above me, so roughly your year, Ana," I continued, and I watched as her eyelids blinked closed and her face seemed to wrinkle with pain—if I was to be a betting woman, I'd put money on the fact that Ana's not finishing school (and never being able to) bothered her more than anything else about her life.

Tamaki, regaining his fervor, geared up to make another go at it but was cowed by one look from Ana.

"Welcome, Princess," Kyoya introduced warmly, but the heat and zeal in his tone was not mirrored in his expression or stance—he was emptied charm, easy on the eyes and able to spit out whatever pretty promises were needed, but the feeling was kept locked away for fear of its interference.

The young Ohtori still made careful notation of the account in his handy-dandy notebook, but the fact that he hadn't known about my other family was probably eating him up.

We just weren't big about revealing family secrets, and there really was no need for him to know about Ana for fear that he would dig deeper and figure everything out.

I didn't need to introduce the next person, as he rocketed into the girl's unsuspecting arms.

"Ana-chan! You don't look a lot like Haruhi—you've got very pretty blue eyes, like cotton candy! Kawaii ne! Ne, Takashi?"

"Ah."

"Hunny-senpai and Mori-senpai graduated this past year, but they're still here practically all the time," I added helpfully. "Hunny-senpai would be the one in your arms, and Mori-senpai is the tall one."

And then, Ana made a very, _very_ big mistake.

While thinking herself safe, Ana wrenched her laughing gaze from the senior in her arms to the tall one who stood a casual ten feet away.

In retrospect, I should have known better—Ana/Serena always did like them tall, dark, and handsome.

The bulb died with a piteous crackle.

I didn't breathe.

She didn't move.

There was just a whole lot of staring (at him, on her part; at her, on my part; at them, on their parts).

And when she passed Hunny-senpai to me and sprinted from the room, she looked at me with pleading, ruby-violet eyes (speckled like a sparrow's egg with sapphire); her friends followed her out, and all that was left was confusion, worry, and a panicked me.

Mori didn't say anything, but concern could be read in the wrinkles of his forehead. Kyoya let light flash across the lenses of his glasses. Hunny tugged impatiently at my collar with a question burning across his corneas. Tamaki heaved a sigh and decided to amuse himself by growing mushrooms in a corner of the room.

"Your cousin's weird," the doppelgangers decided, and I almost shuddered.

They had no idea.

* * *

Hmm… I'm not really sure how I feel about this chapter…

I mean, some "important" things were revealed in Ana's past—poor thing, really I just sugar-coated it into something that she would write home about—in my head it was much, much worse—and the Hosts met the Hydes. But at the same time, for the second time in a row, I made Ana come off as weak-willed to her Serena, when, in all actuality, she really is very much in-control of that other half (I'll be sure to explain more about when Hydes like to "emerge"). There's a reason why she's in charge of the group, kiddies.

I love Brendan (really, I think he's my favorite), Ana, and Ariana (just cause she's so fucking fun to write when in Hyde-form—think she's a blushing virgin? You should really think again…). There's a reason why they made the final cut—plus, I didn't want to get all repetitive with Hyde-loves—there's already going to be enough overlap.

If you didn't understand: the first part was from Sayomi's point of view. It will be in third person, but it's her thoughts. I think, to give her a larger part, I'm going to preface each chapter with a short view into Sayomi's mind. It's vague, but I can't give _everything_ away, can I?

And now, after leaving a long-ass author's note, I think I should probably wrap it up.

So… REVIEW.


	5. Chapter 4

Hello all! Welcome to the redone fourth chapter of Hyde-ing. Won't you read, review, enjoy?

I'll say it now: I spent a good hour on the computer searching for hotels and fares to make this more believable—I found nothing. It was awful. So… just go with it, mmkay, 'cuz I was so over this.

The bottom part is also a look-back at the conversation mentioned in the prologue, while this beginning part here names our villain! Yay, plot development!

'K. Go for it. ^_^

* * *

_Chapter Four_

_Tortur'd, besides each other part, In a vain head, and double heart._

* * *

_Over the course of a week, the average number of Hydes that fall into the possession of various governments amounts to about five individuals to three countries. The United States has a monopoly on the market, and often gets the lion's share of the goods. That's just politics for you, though._

_The black market for Hydes is governed by a company of questionable beginnings and reputable power. Not that anybody really knows it—Utterson & Poole accumulated their fortune in technology and medicine to the outside world, and the records of those on staff are wiped clean by their hackers on a daily basis._

_But, really, Utterson & Poole are big, fat liars, and they need to go down. Before Sayomi gets captured._

_She won't become their lab rat; she's going to expose them for their fallacies, rip their bellies open to all the judgment and hatred humanity can throw their way, kill their mercenaries, murder their babies, feast on their weaknesses because they would do it without a second thought to her and hers._

_And, while that happens, she's going to croon Disney lullabies into their ears… hold them close as she hears the bones in their necks break… feel the life leave them as she purrs before them._

_Mommy doesn't understand this. Mommy is stupid. Mommy is in the way._

_Mommy must die._

* * *

The very first words my father was greeted with that afternoon ran along the lines of, "Have you seen my undisciplined, defective, insuperable cousin?" They were harsh and biting, tinged through with acid and venom, so much so that even he flinched, despite they're not being aimed at him.

"Though that was a fabulous vocabulary lesson, my darling Haruhi, I think you should really calm down," the man, in feminine vestments, soothed, and Sayomi pressed forcefully on her side of my brain, attempting to send me a wordless reprimand.

"You don't know what she did, Dad," I seethed.

He laughed, a rueful, gloomy little chuckle before extending a thick, ivory envelope in my direction.

"Actually, I do. She came here first. Dropped this off and sprinted."

I went to make a grab for it, but my father retracted it and held it close to his chest, winking instead and offering me vague directions to some upscale hotel in our Bunkyo-ku district and train fare.

When I'd stepped off of the monorail, I had to repress the urge to sigh as my search exploded with the appearance of too many hotels. My brain hurt, and Sayomi grumbled, turned away from me, and mentally crossed her arms.

_Perhaps, if you had realized sooner about Ana and her would-be love for Mori, you would have been able to fucking prevent this, Mommy_, the girl sneered, and I shot her the mental image of my flipping her off. Crude and unlike myself, yes, but I felt that it conveyed my point beautifully.

I finally stumbled across the hotel in question, something too grand and so ornate that it hurt my corneas.

It was there, as I was swirling through the huge, spinning door, that I stumbled across Ana's Brendan (who just so happened to be approaching the portal with a somewhat manic gleam in his eye).

"Brendan!"

The Celtic name sounded strange rolling off of my tongue, but his gaze flicked over me, searching, before returning with a somewhat guilty flush to his cheeks.

"Can you tell me where Ana's room is?"

The sheen in his eyes intensified, and I watched as black dots bloomed across his irises; the tall boy shook his head, frustrated and confused and about to lose it to his Hyde side.

Damn it. Didn't Ana say something about his…_ Gregoire_ being a serial killer? Or, perhaps, he didn't speak Japanese…

"Um… your hotel room?" I guessed, scouring my English lessons for the right words—it wasn't everyday in class that the teachers taught one how to hunt down their cousin, thus my terminology for such an occasion was sadly lacking.

"Oh… fifteenth floor. Room 1510."

He pressed a key card into my hand, and no sooner had the words passed his lips, he pushed past me and took off outside in a sprint.

I managed to snatch an empty elevator and booked it up; it was there that, after locating the room, swiping my pass, and ignoring the fanciful details, I was faced with the sight of my bent cousin, her hands buried in a luggage set.

"You're leaving?"

The unspoken accusation of _Chicken_ hung in the air between us.

"And to think I thought you'd never wish to speak to me again, cousin," Ana rebutted gently, continuing her packing of weapons into her bag.

"I can forgive family… especially when it was partially my fault as well. I know how Serena is," I offered, and though I strove to keep my tone deceptively neutral, I still felt my posture to be stiff and angry.

"You don't get it, Haruhi," she murmured lightly, running one long, slim finger, pressed flat, against the blade of her dagger—I shuddered at the sight, but she smiled lovingly down at the polished metal. "And I don't resent you for that; after all, I wanted to give you what I never got. Because we're family. You know, all that sappy stuff that I don't do."

Ah, yes, Ana: the eternal conundrum. Touchy-feely, yet unwilling to listen and deal with emotions of a more sensitive nature. One of the dirtiest mouths ever, yet her pet names (for others) fell like honeyed jewels from her lips.

"But, you still don't understand… not in the way that the others do. I'll never be able to have a normal life—my body and half of my brain will always be chasing euphoria, but to the point where I don't care who else it affects. You'll, at least, be able to maintain a somewhat normal existence, maybe marry, maybe reproduce—I wouldn't… hell-to-the-fuck-no am I passing on my morphed D.N.A.

"I won't ruin this for you," she finished, her pretty cornflower eyes flashing defiantly in my direction. "So, I'm saving both of us; I'm taking myself out of the situation, leaving your life without the complications I'm known for."

For the first time since the beginning of our conversation, she abandoned her minute movements and sashayed herself to my side, reaching out and grabbing my hands, before she led me to the bed.

I felt strangely hollowed out as my cousin stroked her slim, cool fingertips through my short hair and leaned down to place her lips (in both her farewell and her pledge) to my forehead. Sayomi sobbed her denial into her spot and tried to force her way out; I resisted… barely.

"I'll stay in touch, as I always do. But you're so close to your dream, Sayomi is better when I'm not around, and you could have love… if you would just open your eyes…" she trailed off vaguely, and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Ana was not the person to whom I would flee for romantic advice. Sex tips, sure, but so far as I knew, Ana hadn't been able to keep a steady relationship for longer than a month (tops).

She turned from me and went back to packing her suitcase.

"Please don't leave me."

Without my knowledge, Sayomi had pushed me aside halfway until we were almost like one homogenous being, our separate nerve endings wrapped around the other's until it was impossible to tell where one of us ended and the other began, and we both controlled the tiny flickers of movement and small twitches of fingertips, and the strangest sense of interconnectedness was sewing itself through my limbs. Sayomi didn't pry past that point though, and I didn't shove her away, and the filter between her thoughts and my words blurred slowly together.

This feeling had to be what it felt like to be a 'we' and not a 'me' and a 'her'.

"Please," we begged.

Ana's brow wrinkled in profile, and she folded down to retrieve a recurve bow from under her bed. That, too, joined a pair of silver, intricate main-gauche daggers, while a rapier was flung against the pillows. The clothes, stacked in neat little piles of black and gray and blue, were to be next, I was sure.

"Begging isn't attractive, Haruhi," she chided.

Her words were decidedly cold, unfeeling, her own self-prevention from giving in.

"You can't leave me! I need somebody, and you're the closest I'll ever get to a mentor. My mother's dead, my father doesn't understand, and the only person who could and would help me is abandoning me. Am I so undesirable that you all feel the need to run?"

It was a low blow, and all four of us knew it; Ana glowered darkly over at me and pushed her full bottom lip out in an angry moue.

"That was unnecessary. But I'll give you one week, and then, I'm shipping out," she conceded, and I, the person who was practically numb to physical contact and did not encourage it in the slightest, threw myself at her.

She caught me, and the pressure of those dainty, long arms (sewn through with powerful muscle) provoked a shiver on my end.

"I've already paid for the room, and the others are ready to go," Ana warned, her low, pretty voice a warm purr in my ear.

"You'll come to stay in our apartment until you can get another room tomorrow—your Brendan and Ariana can stay in the living area, if you get them to promise not to leave. Same goes for Serena," I offered.

A part of me wondered where this generous half had emerged from, another half slapped that one down and defended familial obligation.

"She's letting me sleep tonight," Ana supplied fluidly, her hands quivering over the latches of her luggage. "And the others are out, if you couldn't tell, collecting their fill."

I ran the idea by Sayomi, and, in one of her rare moments of kindness, Sayomi relented.

_Can't have you passing out on me, Mommy. Rest tonight, but have no fear: I'll make up for it later._

I glanced up again, catching Ana's gaze wandering over my form appraisingly, one hand stilled on the wooden curve of her bow.

"Haruhi," she began, and I nodded my acknowledgement, the pit of my stomach dropping out as she lifted a dagger from the case to drag a finger along the blade. "You've never handled a weapon, correct?"

I dropped my gaze to my shoes, avoiding her blue, blue gaze steadfastly, and tried to not appear as weak as I felt.

"You know that to be the case, Ana."

My cousin was undaunted though, lifting my chin up until my stare caught hers—her eyes sparkled madly in the room's light, and a vicious grin had seized her mouth, twisting it into a snarling smirk.

"What suits you? What does Sayomi feel like learning?" she offered casually.

I felt like there was a deeper motive to this, something else in her meaning. This wasn't just a 'time to learn a weapon' thing—there was an ulterior motive hidden in her pretty face, and I was utterly incapable of picking it out.

"I really have no idea where to begin," I floundered. "I find violence doesn't really affect me; should I change that opinion now, itoko?"

It was a loaded question, meant to pry past her defenses so she would spill why now, all of a sudden, I was to have the task of playing God slapped in my hands.

She laughed and brushed me off.

"Darling Haruhi, how cruel! You called me your mentor, but when trying to do my duty, you spurn my every attempt," Ana chastised, linking our hands together to draw me upright. "Now, let me look at you."

There was a very silent pause as her eyes, calculating and swift in their judgment, meandered across my figure before she finally opened her mouth again.

"You're far too small to ever be good at anything like hand-to-hand, and Sayomi is not that wrathful—"

Sayomi muttered a little shriek of defiance in my head with a promise of: _Careful, Ana. You're treading dangerous ground. I'll show you wrath should you let me out of this prison._

"I'd say that you'd need to be twenty-five yards removed, _at least_, to be beneficial, in the beginning until we can move you up."

I was a smart girl. I knew things. But this? _This_ was a foreign language to me. And it was frustrating me.

"Yes, Ana, but what does that _mean_?" I finally burst, exhaling in a huff as she tucked her lip underneath her front teeth.

"It means that, for now, you'll be using a .22-caliber semi-automatic pistol. When I feel you are ready, then you graduate to this…" she drew forth a wicked-looking crossbow from somewhere behind her, and my jaw went slack.

"Jesus Christ, Ana!"

"Are you ready for your first lesson?"

She didn't wait for a verbal response, merely grapping my arm, and, with a wicked smirk, pulled me from the hotel room, dragging her luggage and weapons behind her.

* * *

"Alright, the first thing you need to correct is your stance—one leg, preferably your dominant one, slightly ahead of your other; legs loose—do _not_ lock your knees—and bent; leaning slightly forward. And, _do not_ grab that gun until you are ready to shoot," she added with a wary glance at my twitching fingers.

We were in a warehouse that brought a whole new meaning to abandoned. I had no idea how she had found this place, but the windows had been hastily scrubbed clean and she'd said that she and her friends had just recently used this place, so I just went with it. The interior was just as grungy as the exterior had looked, and a strange, gray light seemed to both dim and light the space.

Approximately twenty-five yards out, Ana had taped up a rough-looking, humanoid shape, and a small… _gun_ lay before me in two distinct parts on the cement floor.

Unadulterated terror ripped through my system as I stared at the black _thing_—so much power in so small a thing, my head screamed.

_So much fun_, Sayomi purred, though her voice was foggy and disjointed, as if she didn't even realize that her thoughts were projecting. _So much blood. So much pain. So much death…_

With a few more flitting movements around me, Ana came to rest slightly behind my left shoulder, voice ringing out in the cavernous space.

"You are about to fire a semi-automatic pistol, which means that each pull of the trigger will release _one_ cartridge. Before you are the pistol itself and the magazine, which I have loaded with your shots for you—it's not that difficult, but I just did it to save time. You may now pick up the gun."

I did so with only the slightest hesitation, fingers shaking as I bent to collect it—it wasn't as heavy as I'd expected (that might have had something to do with my not knowing _what_ to expect), and a large, gaping maw lay in the grip, the feel of the grip panel rough against my palm.

"Hold it in your dominant hand, Haruhi," Ana noted, glancing over my shoulder, and I did so.

My hands were shaking so badly that I thought I might drop it, and the bullets weren't even _in_ the weapon yet. I was terrified in a way that made no sense, was just this animalistic feeling of fear that told me to stop it, that this was dangerous, that I should run as fast as possible in the opposite direction.

"Once you place the magazine inside of the weapon, hear it snap closed, then you will place your other hand beneath it to support yourself. You will look through your rear sight, and then your front sight. Remember your stance. Pick up your magazine. Do _not_ place your finger on the trigger until you are absolutely ready to shoot," Ana stressed. A high, reedy note had added itself to her tone, and I glanced over my shoulder to see a wide smile covering her mouth, breath falling in eager gasps from her parted lips, pupils wide and dilated and surrounded by magenta-blue irises; her expression was foggy and heavy-lidded, something almost sexual about the entire ordeal.

"Now, control. This is where that is important. You and Sayomi must come together like you did in my hotel room. She will know what to do, and you will know how to act it. This shooting will then be like breathing to you both."

My hands didn't quiver nearly as badly as I picked up the weight of the magazine, guiding it back into its place and clicking it home. The gun felt more solid now, weighty and real, and I exhaled quickly, placing my hand beneath the gun to support myself and making sure my stance was correct.

My gaze fell to the notched groove, looking down it and past it to the target, to the lumpy head shape.

"Pulling the slide back will thumb the hammer back for you, and then it's just a matter of the trigger and breathing. You may proceed when you feel that you and Sayomi are one."

There was a moment that passed between me and my Hyde. Wherein we struggled with trying to mesh together—earlier in the hotel room, it had seemed natural, two beings coming together because they were two halves of one person—but now it seemed an impossible task.

So, I relaxed. Breathed. And, all of a sudden, she molded. I could feel her fitting into my grooves, filling my indents, making me whole and complete in a way that I'd never felt before. Her thoughts roared before me, ablaze with light, sound, music, color, _life_, as mine flowed into her of quiet, solitude, books, intelligence, _calm_.

I was aware of everything and nothing. The dust motes that floated past. The rough grip in my palm. The speckled light of afternoon. The dummy twenty-five yards away.

I felt exultant and magical and on-the-edge and balanced. Logical, but lusty. Calm, but wild. Civilized, but raw. Swept up by the beauty of this experience and my emotions. Captivated by how logical it was to want to protect my kind, myself. I was whirled into this storm of wanting to feel everything and wanting to feel nothing all at the same time, ripped asunder and joined by this need to touch something concrete, like this gun, feel it jump in my hands, feel my world come apart and together all in one moment. Quiet. Untamed. Apathetic. _Ready._

"_We're ready_."

I could almost feel Ana's excitement coursing through as my finger inched inside of the trigger guard, tip curling… flexing… firing.

The bang rippled up our arms to rest in our shoulders, burning them with exertion of the sweetest kind, and a large smile bloomed across our face as a bullet casing landed somewhere with a satisfying _ping_ from its expulsion from the ejection port. Recoil sent the gun two inches up until I steadied it, and a large hole bloomed in the center of the target's would-be face.

"_Yes…_"

* * *

That night, with Ana's silken, muscled body curled around my own, one toned thigh thrown across my hipbones and one milky, strong arm ringing my ribcage, I reflected on my first morning with Sayomi, the thoughts brought on by the looming presence I felt in the corner of my mind, the girl caught in the dazed position of being suspended between sleep and wakefulness.

* * *

Preceding our breaking of the barrier between us, Sayomi and I had communicated via my video camera, a rather ingenious idea on my part. I showed, through my eyes, exactly how to record a response, and then I'd set about asking my own questions of her.

That night, when she had emerged to take over my body, she followed everything to the letter, answered my questions, and relayed some… demands of her own.

The next morning, swallowing my trepidation, I hit 'play'.

"Hello, Mommy dearest," a voice burbled from the machine, and I could just barely place it as something akin to my own—it was far more melodious and flowing, amused and sexual.

The display depicted a girl, with cropped mahogany hair brushing at her collar, lounging comfortably across my bed with all the propriety and ownership of one who'd been around _my_ things for her entire life.

She was stunningly beautiful, violently red eyes winking maliciously in time with the light cast by a lamp, and a smirk that called more attention to her fuller bottom lip.

It was strange, seeing myself reflected back, talking and interacting when I knew that I had already gone to sleep. It was strange seeing _me _controlled by another person…

"Wasn't last night just fantastic? I can't tell you how long I've waited to do that, Mommy dearest," she giggled, stretching contentedly across my comforter and pillows like a languid cat. "You really are being no fun about all of this! Asking me questions and the like—honey, I did us a favor!

"Oh! And do you like your new nickname, Mommy? I picked it out just because! Since you've seen fit not to name me, I figured I could spur you on. As my mother, I'm almost positive that it's your duty to christen me," she giggled madly, arching her back to call attention to her rather nice curves.

"Actually, I had a lot of time to think last night when that boy was fumbling around, attempting to dish me out my drugs. I've decided I shall be… Sayomi. Because that's what I _am_, and since your regular name is "indicative" of who you are, I figured, what the hey, mine can be like Mommy's! Isn't that right… Haruhi?"

The unusually bubbling cadence of her voice deepened in pitch on my name, and I sucked in a gasp.

How had she…?

"Don't worry. The boy babbled it, in between bouts of, "I didn't think were into this; you were always so above it in school!", and the like. Honestly, he was an idiot; he couldn't tell one difference between us," she pouted, though it was childish and short-lived. "Your eyes are that ugly brown, but mine are this sparkling ruby. Your curves, nonexistent as compared to my body, and as if your hair could ever be as lustrous as my own.

"All in all though, you aren't a bad host, persay. You're just… plain. Like, I'm the natural gem pulled from the Earth, but you're the lab-made replica. I'm few and far between, but you're processed—I've seen a lot of your kind before, so you aren't anything special. But with me added to you, we're better, see? Oh sure, I tried to beat you out of your own body, but what you don't get is that I'm just as entitled to it as you are. We share this form," she chuckled, and her fingertips began to glide across her, no, _our_ skin. "You get it during the day, and I rule it at night. And in between, we can feel each other—you're here, right now," she purred, tapping her, no, our forehead delicately, "dreaming sweet dreams. Though you're restless tonight… thinking of this morning.

"Did you not like my birthday present to you, Mommy? Those pretty pills were fun enough, even if they did wear off…"

She trailed off, staring at the camera's lens with circumspect interest and pursed lips.

"You wanted three answers, and three answers I shall give.

"First, I, of course, am the… entity taking up some room in your brain; not quite sure what I am, or what we are, but it's all good—we can find out together," she invited, voice dripping to a silken comment shot through with a healthy dash of innuendo.

"Secondly, I'm sure you're not so naïve that you think I ate some crumpets and drank some tea; I did us all a favor—you're not so innocent anymore, and those people in the club I got us into got a fantastic show.

"And last, your 'how?'… well, it was building up to it. I'm sure you weren't aware of it, but I certainly was. It was like… a switch that needed to be thrown, and I could see it, every day, at the end of this tunnel. And as the hours slipped into weeks into months into years, the switch crept closer until I could touch it, feel it beneath my palms. And, then, I just threw it, and I woke us up, and I knew my time had come.

"In the words of our dear Serena, 'La nuit est la mienne.'," she finished, and suddenly her pointed stare at the camera was more of a glare and her lip was twitching with malice.

"I know you'll want to get rid of me, _Mommy_," she hissed, and I flinched back from the hatred in her eyes. "But I swear that if you so much as try, I will _consume_ you. I will riddle your brain with holes and feast upon your soul until you are nothing, and I am the main captain.

"So, sweet dreams, Mommy dearest," she chimed brightly, and the film went black.

* * *

Sayomi's some scary-ass shit, no? Sweet and pretty and threatening… yummy.

This is the first exposure of Haruhi to her weapons. Originally, I had some doubts on what kind of weapon I wanted to give her, but then, after a much needed trip to the shooting range, I fell in love with the same guns I gave Haru—it was actually the first gun I'd _ever_ fired (unless you want to count that sniper rifle that one time...), and, once I got over the whole trembling thing as I stared at it, I did some serious damage to the paper. However, while those are good for self-defense, they aren't good in combat situations, so the crossbow, which I think is wickedly sweet, is what she _will_ graduate too.

Sorry if there are any mistakes. I gave it a cursory glance and was pretty sure I caught them all, so... yeah...

Next time: MAJOR PLOT TWISTS!

Review, pretty, pretty please. Come on. There's a button right below this. Press it. You know you want to…


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